Artificial fuel.



UNITED STATES ATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM B. SMITH, OF PLAINFIELD, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGN OR OF ONE-HALF TOHAROLD P. BROWN, OF MONTOLAIR, NEW JERSEY.

ARTIFICIAL FUEL.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent-No. 724,214, dated March31, 1903. Application filed January 14, 1903. Serial No. 138,962. (Nospecimens.)

Io aZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, WILLIAM B. SMITH, a citizen of the United States,and a resident of Plainfield, in the county of Union and State of NewJersey, have invented a new and useful Artificial Fuel, of which thefollowing is a specification.

My invention relates to an artificial fuel,

with the object in view of utilizing materials which are at the presenttime considered nuisances and waste products.

With this end in View my invention consists in an artificial fuelcomposed of the residuum from the manufacture of acetylene I5 gas andcarbonaceous materialsuch, for example, as ashes and cinders from theburning of wood and coal.

The fuel may be practically manufactured as follows: The ashes andcinders may be spread on a floor and a sufficient amount of the slush orWatery residuum from an acetylene-gas machine maybe poured onto theashes and cinders in quantities sufficient to make the mixture theconsistency of ordinary mortar for laying up brick and stone. The

ashes and cinders and residuum from the gasmachine may then bethoroughly mixed, using for the purpose a hoe or shovel, so that as faras may be every particle of cinder and ash 0 shall be covered with theresiduum. This mixture is allowed to remain on the floor for one or twohours, but not long enough for it y to become dry and hard, as I find itto be much better to use it in the furnace while it- 5 is still in a wetplastic condition. The mixture may then be spread onto a fire alreadystarted in a furnace and will efficiently serve as a fuel, maintainingthe fire in the furnace without the use of any coal or any other fuel 0than itself.

While I do not wish to be understood as having solved beyond allquestion the chemical action which takes place in the burning of thismixture, my theory, as far as I have at present 5 formed one, is asfollows: The residuum (containing hydrate of lime, hydrocarbon insolution, hydrochloric acid, and carbonic acid) when distributed overthe ash and cinder has a great affinity for the poisonous gases of theatmosphere, which it quicklyabsorbs, and it is for the purpose ofabsorbing these that I allow the mixture to remain for one or two hoursin order that it may take from the atmosphere the carbonic acid and suchnitrogenous. gases as may be floating in the vicinity.

When this mixture is finally placed on hot burning coals, it gathers anatom of carbon from the ash and cinder, thereby breaking down thecarbonic acid and forming carbonmonoxid gas, which immediately ignites.This gas continues to form as long as there is any carbonic acid in themixture or surrounding air. The heat is very intense, and portions ofthe mixture can be added from time to time and the fire continuedindefi- I nitely.

One of the economic features of this fuel is that the cinder whichresults from the burning of this artificial fuel may be itself broken upagain and mixed with a fresh quantity of the residuum from theacetylene-gas machine, to be again used in the furnace When the ash andcinder have. been used in this manner several times over, the mixturemay be materially improved by using sulfate of iron with the ash andcinderfor example, a pound of the sulfate of iron to one hundred poundsof the mixture, although this proportion is not of material importanceand may be varied as convenience or experience may prove desirable.

What I claim is 1. An artificialfuol consisting of the residuum from themanufacture of acetylene gas and ash and cinder. 85

2. An artificial fuel consisting of a mixture of the residuum from themanufacture of acetylene gas, ash and cinderand sulfate of 1ron.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my invention I have signed myname, in presence of two witnesses, this 13th day of January, 1903.

WILLIAM B. SMITH.

WVitnesses:

FREDK. HAYNES, GEORGE BARRY, Jr.

